February 28, 2005

When I started this blog most people had no clue what a blog was or why I would do academic research on this subject.
Now bloggers are everywhere and it now seems the “in” thing to have a blog. Some bloggers have become online celebrities and even paid political pundits. Successful bloggers are making money through ad revenue on their blogs or by “someone” paying them to promote their agenda (we hope they at least disclosed this) in their blog postings.

Academics and the media industry has taken noticed. Ethical questions and professional integrity are a major concern for independent blogging.

The question I keep getting asked is “Is blogging a fad ?” “Is this just all hype?”

The answer is no.
Blogging will evolve just like websites did in the mid-1990’s. Many people created independent websites for news and then traditional media saw this threat and established online news sites. Traditional media is now doing this with blogging, as it seems news outlets now must have blogs on their website. Independent bloggers will be enticed with money to work for big media and bring their loyal readers along.